Ted Baker sales soar March 21, 2012 British designer clothing brand Ted Baker reported a surge in retail sales and said it planned more international store openings in North America and Asia in 2012 to tap into growing consumer demand. Ted Baker, which started as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1987, reported a 14 per cent rise in retail sales, with [...]
Euro jobs at risk if crude hits $150 March 18, 2012 SURGING OIL PRICES have the potential to knock the Eurozone further into recession and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to analysis by Ernst & Young. If the price of crude hits $150 (£95) a barrel this year, the consultancy expects to see contraction of one per cent in the Eurozone’s GDP, compared to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 14, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES FINANCIAL AUTHORITY URGED TO DROP OPAQUE CHARGES The new Financial Conduct Authority should use its powers to remove opaque banking charges and make it cheaper for new lenders to enter the market, a panel that represents the interests of retail customers has urged. In a paper to be published today, the Financial Services [...]
Economy is being knocked off course March 11, 2012 IT is not looking too good for George Osborne. The Budget is next week and the economy remains mired in stagnation. It is hard to know for sure what is happening, but all the indications are that growth so far this quarter has been weak. Industrial production actually fell in January, despite a rise in [...]
UK manufacturing does not need favours – but it deserves a better press March 11, 2012 BRITAIN’S greatness was built upon the brains and brawn of our industrial revolution. Excepting sporadic flourishes of genius, we hit our stride when great minds turned their energies to the tasks of extracting, designing, building and moving the world’s wants. Machines replaced the labour of men, so those born poor could work their family out [...]
RWE to scale back its asset sell-off plans March 6, 2012 RWE, Germany’s second-biggest utility, plans to sell fewer assets after finding another €1bn (£834m) of cost cuts and raising its capital as it positions itself for a future without nuclear power in its home market. The company, which owns British utility NPower, reported a 45 per cent drop in 2011 net profit yesterday. It now [...]
Boris: Britain must resist EU red tape March 4, 2012 BORIS Johnson has called on the government to boost transport spending, launch a crackdown on people dodging stamp duty and for Britain to pay less attention to EU rules. The London Mayor said economic growth “revolves around” improving the transport system, despite the pressure on public spending, and called on the Treasury to tackle the [...]
Brakes on for GM Chevy Volt March 4, 2012 GENERAL Motors has announced it will temporarily shut down production of the Chevy Volt, its innovative electric car. GM will also temporarily lay off 1,300 employees who work on the Volt’s production line between 19 March and 23 April, Detroit Free Press reported. The company cited the need to “align our production with demand” for [...]
FTSE flat as ECB pours in more funds February 29, 2012 The FTSE 100 was flat this morning with investors awaiting another injection of cash from the European Central Bank, aimed at propping up the Eurozone. The ECB is expected to pump about 500bn euros (£422bn) into the Eurozone’s financial system to fight the region’s debt crisis, enabling banks to tap as many of the ultra-cheap, [...]
CRH bullish as its profits beat forecast February 28, 2012 BUILDING materials group CRH said yesterday that full-year profits came in ahead of forecasts for its debut results as a FTSE 100 company. CRH said the outlook for 2012 is positive despite rising energy costs and a weaker economic picture in Europe. The Irish company is strong in the US, where it is the major [...]